CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

By the Numbers: 10 Years of Private Equity in Accounting

A decade of private equity in accounting: From a handful of deals to hundreds a year

By CPA Trendlines Research

For most of the teh 21st century, private equity in accounting had been a rumor, a distant memory. Today it is the market.

The CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™ now lists 621 transactions involving accounting, tax and related-service firms from January 2016 through October 2026. The pace is uneven at first and then relentless. But today CPA Trendlines Research estimates that investors have pumped up the valuations of the acquired firms to a total of more than $55 billion.

SEARCH, SORT AND FILTER ALL THE DEALS – By firm acquired, private equity investor, CPA firm platform, and date. Plus exclusive insights and notes on the biggest deals, in the CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™ PRO here.

Exclusively for PRO Members. To join CPA Trendlines as a PRO Member, click here.

Fewer than 70 transactions are recorded in the seven years from 2016 through 2022. In 2016, five entries appear. Activity in 2020 and 2021 stays in the single and low double digits, at three and 10 entries.

The turn comes in 2023, with 47 entries. The count roughly doubles in 2024, to 97, and doubles again in 2025, to 203. Through October, 2026 already logs 214 transactions, more than any full year before it, with two months still to go.

The monthly rhythm tells a similar story. January 2026 is the busiest month on record, with 34 transactions, and August 2026 follows with 33. Between those peaks, activity cools to 12 to 16 deals a month from March through July. It is a pause rather than a retreat, and the rebound is immediate.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

PE-Owned CPA Firms Surge into Advisory Buyouts

Consolidators scoop up tech, CFO services, insurance, AI engineering.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Sponsor-backed accounting firms are expanding and diversifying their range of advisory services with a slew of new deals in adjacent specialties, according to the CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™.

This edition of the private equity Deal Tracker™ identifies 27 transactions: 26 acquisitions or combinations and a financing round. The acquisitions include six U.S. technology businesses, one U.S. insurance services business, two U.S. wealth businesses and four international businesses. The other 13 involve U.S. accounting, tax, accounting advisory or mixed accounting and wealth businesses.

NEW, BIGGER TRACKER: See the PRO edition of the CPA PE Deal Tracker™ – Filter, search and sort more than 600 deals spanning 10 years for a total valuation of more than $60 billion

BY THE NUMBERS: The decade in deals, year by year valuations, acquiror rankings, top ten biggest buyouts, the most connected investors, here.

The Tracker™ this month includes a new $355 million financing round for Platform Accounting Group to support further expansion, and, in perhaps the largest takeover in October, Apax-backed CohnReznick is buying Aldrich, a group reportedly grossing $100 million a year.

The CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™ – Filter, search and sort

October 2026 – 27 deals, including CohnReznick takeover of Aldrich and Platform Accounting $355 funding round.

Date	Seller / Firm	Buyer / Investor	Investor connections	Deal type	Category	Notes
Oct 2026	Alan Gray and A.G. Risk Management	Lewis & Ellis	Novacap	Acquisition	Accounting-adjacent (insurance services)	Insurance consulting business provides claims consulting, forensic accounting and legal expense management; subsidiary adds run-off administration and accounting support.
Oct 2026	Aldrich group of companies	CohnReznick	Apax Partners	Acquisition agreement	Mixed accounting and wealth	Agreement covers Aldrich CPAs + Advisors and Aldrich Wealth. Closing expected in mid-December 2026.
Oct 2026	BAO Consulting Group	CFGI	Carlyle; CVC Capital Partners	Acquisition	Accounting and advisory	Dallas and Houston advisory business adds accounting and finance support, CFO and controller services, finance transformation and transaction work.
Oct 2026	Blume Keeney	Larson Gross	Thrive Holdings (Current)	Acquisition	Accounting and tax	Everett, Wash., tax and consulting team joins Larson Gross. Effective Sept. 15; announced Oct. 23.
Oct 2026	Charted NetSuite services practice	WilliamsMarston	Kelso & Company	Acquisition	Accounting-adjacent	Acquires the NetSuite services practice. Charted's accounts payable software company remains independent.
Oct 2026	Comtax	Ryan	Onex Partners; Ares Management; Neuberger Berman	Acquisition	Accounting and tax (international)	Brazilian tax technology and consulting business adds tax determination, compliance, systems implementation and tax audit support.
Oct 2026	Equify Advisors	Elliott Davis	Flexpoint Ford	Acquisition	Accounting-adjacent	NetSuite implementation, business systems consulting and advanced analytics business joins Elliott Davis.
Oct 2026	Fabietti, Hale, Hammerstedt & Powers	Prosperity Partners	Lightyear Capital; Unity Partners (continuing minority)	Acquisition	Accounting and tax	Southern New Jersey advisory, tax, client accounting and attest practice acquired. The acquired practice's clients include family-owned and closely held businesses.
Oct 2026	Fastrics	KNAV	NKSquared	Acquisition	Accounting-adjacent	Florida technology consulting and digital transformation business adds Workiva, connected reporting, governance, risk and compliance capabilities.
Oct 2026	Flightline	Stout	Integrum Holdings	Acquisition	Accounting-adjacent	AI technology and engineering business acquired after a period of collaboration.
Oct 2026	Forensic Accountants & Consultants	J.S. Held	Kelso & Company	Acquisition	Accounting and advisory	Forensic accounting and litigation consulting practice acquired and integrated.
Oct 2026	Goal Line Financial	Mercer Advisors	Oak Hill Capital; Genstar Capital; Altas Partners	Acquisition	Wealth management	Cincinnati wealth management firm acquired.
Oct 2026	Havard & Associates	BK Plus	Palatine Private Equity	Acquisition	Accounting and tax (international)	Hornchurch, England, accounting, bookkeeping, payroll and tax practice joins BK Plus.
Oct 2026	KBS CFO	Numera	Astira Capital Partners	Acquisition	Accounting and advisory	Fractional CFO, bookkeeping and client advisory services practice joins Numera.
Oct 2026	Loveridge Hunt & Co.	Eide Bailly	Reverence Capital Partners (investment announced; closing before this acquisition unconfirmed)	Combination announced	Accounting and tax	Bellevue, Wash., tax, accounting, audit and consulting firm announces joining Eide Bailly. Effective Oct. 19.
Oct 2026	Platform Accounting Group	Treville-led financing group	Treville Capital Group; Vista Credit Partners; Siguler Guff; Aquiline; Brightwood Capital Advisors; The Cynosure Group	Growth financing	Accounting and advisory	One completed $355 million financing with six named participants. The total includes PT&C Group Holdings‚Äô $85 million equity offering, according to reported company confirmation.
Oct 2026	Quish	Sequoia Financial Group	Valeas Capital Partners	Acquisition	Wealth management	Boulder, Colo., family office and wealth management firm acquired.
Oct 2026	Rosetree Solutions	Citrin Cooperman	Blackstone	Acquisition	Accounting-adjacent	AI consulting business acquired; transaction closed Oct. 1. New Mountain Capital exited Citrin Cooperman in April 2025.
Oct 2026	ScaleUp Financial Solutions	Larson Gross	Thrive Holdings (Current)	Acquisition	Accounting and advisory	Fractional CFO, controller and outsourced accounting business joins Larson Gross, effective Oct. 2. ScaleUp retains its brand.
Oct 2026	Sephton Accountants	BK Plus	Palatine Private Equity	Acquisition	Accounting and tax (international)	Solihull, England, practice adds accountancy, tax, VAT, bookkeeping, audit and payroll services.
Oct 2026	Stolberg & Blanchette	Walter Shuffain (Ascend)	Alpine Investors	Acquisition	Accounting and tax	Worcester, Mass., public accounting practice joins Walter Shuffain, adding tax, assurance, advisory and business valuation capabilities.
Oct 2026	Stride	Accordion	Charlesbank Capital Partners; Motive Partners	Acquisition	Accounting-adjacent	Software engineering and AI systems business joins the financial consulting firm.
Oct 2026	Stroemer & Company	CRI	Centerbridge Partners; Bessemer Venture Partners	Acquisition	Accounting and tax	Fort Myers, Fla., accounting, audit and tax practice specializing in community associations joins CRI.
Oct 2026	TGRP Solutions	Aprio	Charlesbank Capital Partners	Acquisition	Accounting and advisory	Technical accounting, fractional CFO, transaction support, staffing and recruiting business joins Aprio, effective Oct. 1.
Oct 2026	The Curchin Group	HBK	H.I.G. Capital (investment announced; closing before this acquisition unconfirmed)	Acquisition	Accounting and tax	New Jersey accounting and advisory practice joins HBK. Effective Oct. 16.
Oct 2026	Whalen CPAs	UHY	Summit Partners	Acquisition	Accounting and tax	Central Ohio tax, accounting, audit, valuation and advisory firm joins UHY.
Oct 2026	White Hart Associates	Shaw Gibbs	ECI Partners	Acquisition	Accounting and tax (international)	Richmond, England, practice combines audit, accountancy and tax with corporate finance and travel-sector regulatory advice.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

PRO Tracker™: The Complete List, 621 Deals, 10 Year

SEARCH, SORT, FILTER – Look up by firm acquired, private equity investor, CPA firm platform, or date.

EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS and notes on the biggest deals.

The CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™ now lists 621 transactions involving accounting, tax and related-service firms from January 2016 through October 2026. The pace is uneven at first and then relentless.

But today CPA Trendlines Research estimates that investors have pumped up the valuations of the acquired firms to a total of more than $60 billion.

Exclusively for PRO Members. To join CPA Trendlines as a PRO Member, click here.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Zoho Freezes Raises as AI Costs Climb

Intuit, Sage, Xero grapple with ‘bubblelicios’ AI spending strategies.

Surging AI costs are making managing profit margins a new challenge at many of the same companies seeking to generate new revenue in the technology.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Zoho is freezing its usual annual pay increases for its 19,000 employees worldwide and cutting marketing spending as rising server prices and AI usage are driving up costs.

“AI has raised costs dramatically,” Sridhar Vembu, Zoho’s co-founder and chief scientist, says. Server prices have risen fourfold, and the company is working to avoid mass layoffs.

MORE AI in Tech

Meanwhile, Zoho’s peers and competitors report surging A.I. costs that make managing margins a new challenge. Intuit, for example, says it spent $110 million last year alone.

AI costs are rising fast enough at Zoho to stop raises, yet the company is adding capabilities to Analytics and Campaigns without increasing the base subscription prices. For now, the response includes payroll restraint and metered usage charges.

For accounting firms using Zoho products, the news shows why base subscription prices may not capture the full cost of AI. Zoho’s Analytics documentation also says some features share data with external vendors and some built-in agents support only OpenAI, determining which providers receive business data. READ MORE →

BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

On Hold with the IRS. On the Hook with Clients.

A shrinking workforce leaves tax professionals spending more time pursuing answers and explaining delays.

**Emily Aprea, NAEA**: “On hold for up to two hours, only to be disconnected”

By CPA Trendlines

Despite the IRS’s insistence it’s processing 98% of the returns it receives, practitioners are reporting two-hour phone waits, authorizations that take weeks to post and client problems that remain unresolved after they finally reach an employee.

MORE Tax | Logan Graf: Build a Modern Accounting Business, Not a Job | Jason Ackerman: Roth Mistakes That Cost Clients the Most | The Top Tip for Reviewing Tax Returns

The problem, apparently, is the difference between routine e-filed processing and what happens when a case needs an actual human.

New oversight reports and practitioner complaints show an agency that moves enormous volumes of returns while struggling to clear exceptions.

For accounting firms, those exceptions mean repeated calls, delayed access to records and more time explaining why a filed return has not produced a finished case.

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Grant Thornton-CBIZ Deal: $43 Million in Golden Parachutes

Under CEO Grisko, stock runs up from $10 to $88. But that was before Marcum.

**CBIZ execs** stand to gain $43 million with the GT transaction.

By CPA Trendlines

CBIZ shares closed at $10.42 on March 9, 2016, the day Jerome P. “Jerry” Grisko Jr. became chief executive. Grant Thornton is now offering $55 a share in cash for the company. A shareholder who simply held through Grisko’s tenure would be looking at a 428% increase in the share price, or about 17.4% compounded annually through the July offer.

MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal:

MORE Private Equiity

So, is Grisko worth the $7.1 million CBIZ reports as his total 2025 compensation? Or the $22 million with the Grant Thornton deal? Over the long haul, there is a pretty good case for yes. Marcum makes the answer considerably messier.

**Stock price hits** $88 high with Marcum deal in 2024. Then the bills come due in 2025. Grant Thornton offers $55 in July.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

John LaMancuso: K1x Bets $175 Million to Beat the K-1 Bottleneck

Can AI bring order to one of tax’s most stubborn problems?

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

By Seth Fineberg
For CPA Trendlines

K1x is putting $175 million in new investment behind an expansion of its K-1 technology platform, with plans to accelerate product development, broaden its offerings and build a more standardized system for managing partnership tax data.

MORE K1x: K1x Secures $175 Million for Private Markets AI Tax Tech | Private Market Tax Is Heading for a Collision | The 3-Part Framework Firms Are Using to Fix K-1 Chaos | Why the Future of Tax Isn’t Compliance—It’s Timing | How to Turn K1 Problems into Profits with A.I. Automation | Break the K-1 Bottleneck | AI Tax App Crashes Financial Stocks on Wall Street | MORE A.I. | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

CEO John LaMancuso says the company is pushing beyond automating individual K-1 tasks. K1x wants to connect K-1 creation and aggregation into a unified platform that can move tax data among CPA firms, investment funds and investors with less manual handling.

“Start with the bottleneck, not the technology,” LaMancuso says.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

42 Hot AI Firms Raise $1.23 Billion in New 2026 Funding

Wall Street places big money on both sides of the bet for and against accounting firms.

**The top ten** of 42 firms identified by CPA Trendlines raise 75% of the new money so far this year.

By CPA Trendlines Research

With $1.23 billion invested so far this year, 42 new AI-powered tech companies, from pre-seed startups to growth-stage platforms, are vying for a place at the table where the future of tax and accounting will be decided.

MORE AITech and Adoption: Buying AI Is Easy. Rebuilding the Firm Is Hard. | Trent Yesberg: How AI Re-Builds Accounting Firms | The AI Demo Is Easy. The Rollout Gets Complicated. | If AI Is Saving Time, Why Are You Still Working Late? | Intuit, Thomson, Wolters Kluwer: Accountants Question AI Promises | David Marquis: AI Can Do More Work but Auditors Must Make the Call | AI Accountants Cut Costs per Task to 21 cents from $10.35 | Your Next Hire Might Not Be an Accountant | “Set It and Forget It” Is Not an AI Strategy | Kenji Kuramoto: When AI Does the Work, What Are Firms Selling?

They’ve captured the serious attention of both the fintech cognoscenti and the tax and accounting avant-garde. Some build the tools that help tax and accounting firms handle more work. Others are taking the other side of the bet, selling tax and accounting services themselves, rolling up firms that do, or selling bookkeeping with no human bookkeepers.

To be sure, the bets are anything but certain.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Billions in Debt Decisions Dog CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal

Grant Thornton plans $2 billion in junk bonds at a steeper price than CBIZ was paying.

By CPA Trendlines Research

After a mountain of debt sent tax and accounting consolidator CBIZ looking for a suitor, Grant Thornton stepped up. Now Grant Thornton itself is looking to place $2.25 billion in junk bonds to help pay for the $5 billion deal.

MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal:

GT’s new junk-bond load comes on top of more than $7 billion the firm is reportedly already carrying and costs about 4 points more than the CBIZ bank debt it’s replacing.

The CBIZ saga, begun in the first rollup era of the 1990s, comes to a head next week when shareholders vote on the $55-a-share cash offer from Grant Thornton Advisors, the private equity-backed nonattest platform.

ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Crossing the Chasm from CAS to Advisory

Client needs evolve with their businesses.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Again, what is the difference between CAS and CAAS? Many firms feel stuck in the middle, offering advisory in theory but not in execution. That gap is the CAAS-Chasm. This article outlines the cycle that causes advisory initiatives to stall and helps you recognize the signs in your own firm. It’s the first step to breaking through.

MORE by Hitendra Patil
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Client accounting and advisory services (CAAS) is a fusion of traditional accounting services with advisory services that emerge from core accounting work. Think of CAS as a self-study course and CAAS as a guided workshop, but not necessarily in-person events.

CAAS is (needs to be) customized to individual client needs. CAAS must cater to the evolving demands of businesses in a changing economic, regulatory and technological landscape.
READ MORE →

ADVISORY & CONSULTING

If AI Is Saving Time, Why Are You Still Working Late?

How fast (or slow) are accountants adopting AI? Depends on whom you ask.

Six Surveys. Eleven Answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Hourly billing is fading. Advisory is spreading. Artificial intelligence is freeing accountants to do more valuable work.

But agreement may end there.

The meanings of adoption, advisory and the AI dividend are leaving firm leaders with sometimes clashing pictures of how far the change is going.

MORE AI: Gen AI in Accounting: Epic Transformation, or Overheated Hype? | Intuit, Thomson, Wolters Kluwer: Accountants Question AI Promises | Caseware’s David Marquis: AI Can Do More Work but Auditors Must Make the Call | AI Accountants Cut Costs per Task to 21 cents from $10.35 | Your Next Hire Might Not Be an Accountant | It’s Not Just the Numbers

The problem surfaces again in a fresh series of surveys that tell different, even confusing, versions of the same story. One study finds advisory in 57 percent of surveyed U.S. practices. Another puts advisory or consulting at 94 percent in its U.S. sample. A pricing-platform survey finds little hourly billing for particular services. A broader practice-management benchmark finds most responding firms still use hourly billing.

Firm leaders are being shown evidence of progress, but the evidence does not consistently measure the same progress. READ MORE →

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Intuit, Thomson, Wolters Kluwer: Accountants Question AI Promises

At the big three user conferences, AI is changing the rules… again.

**Vendors take center stage at user conferences.** Logos: Thomson Reuters, QuickBooks, Wolters Kluwer

By CPA Trendlines Research

Over the next few weeks, Intuit, Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Reuters will be gathering their users in Las Vegas and Orlando, each bringing software and strategies that accountants fear could encroach on a firm’s client relationships.

Intuit Connect – Oct. 26-28, Aria, Las Vegas. Client books, monthly close, advisory, agents and the accountant relationship. More than 100 breakouts. Up to 12 CPE credits. Learn more
CCH Connections (Wolters Kluwer) – Oct. 25-28, Grande Lakes, Orlando. Tax and audit production, review, migrations and quality management. More than 90 sessions. Up to 19 CPE. Learn more
Thomson Reuters Synergy – Nov. 16-19, Fontainebleau, Las Vegas. Research, preparation, document workflows and engagement evidence. Combined professional audiences; separate general sessions. Learn more

The gap between firms and vendors provides a lens into the season. Intuit Connect, Wolters Kluwer’s CCH Connections and Thomson Reuters Synergy are pairing agentic AI demos with sessions on pricing, review, staffing and leadership. READ MORE →

CHARTS & GRAPHS

CPA PE Deal Tracker™: The Next Deal Cycle Comes into View

By CPA Trendlines Research

Going into the fourth quarter of 2026, Wall Street’s buying spree for accounting firms is cooling as platform firms digest a two-year surge of acquisitions and the earliest investors, from three to five years ago, begin to cash out, according to the CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™.

MORE Private Equity: Michael Hoover: Growth Without Discipline Comes at a Cost | Big 4 Transparency | CBIZ Told Grant Thornton No, No, No, Before Saying Yes | PE Already Knows Your Price. Do You? | How Private Equity Turns CPA Loyalty into Legal Risk | Ira Rosenbloom: PE Forces Firms to Pick a Future | The Disruptors | Allan Koltin: What Elite CPA Firms Do Differently | Gear Up for Growth

The October 2026 edition of the CPA PE Deal Tracker™ shows accounting’s private-equity deal flow easing in the third quarter, with 37 acquisitions in the U.S. and Canada, down from 42 a year earlier and a far cry from this year’s first-quarter surge of 58. The Tracker now counts 400 such deals in the U.S. and Canada since its records began in December 2016, plus 87 it has found elsewhere, for 487 worldwide, although its coverage outside North America is not systematic.

ABOUT US

Ask CPA Trendlines

Now, with smarter search, deeper analysis and more detailed responses (v.2.8).

ABOUT US

Listen, Download, Stream, Subscribe Anywhere

Click here to load your Apple podcast app

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Rebecca Burnick: How to Turn Accountants Into Advisors | It’s Not Just the Numbers

Building an advisory practice takes more than freeing up staff time. It requires a deliberate approach to client relationships, training, scope and technology.

This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

???

The Break-Through Blueprint for Revolutionizing the CPA Firm Business Model

It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

Accounting firm owners have heard the message for years: move beyond transactional work and build higher-value advisory relationships.

Yet the distance between wanting an advisory practice and developing a team capable of delivering one can be considerable. Outsourcing and automation may free up time, but that capacity only becomes valuable when firms have a clear system for putting it to work.

MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead | MORE Advisory & Consulting

JOIN From Scorekeeper to Strategist CAS Workshop | BUY “It’s Not Just the Numbers”

Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Rebecca Burnick, owner and CEO of Office Heads, has taken a process-led approach to that challenge. After 15 years working in strategic management consulting, she founded Office Heads and has spent 18 years developing a structured model for serving clients and helping team members grow into advisory roles. Her experience offers a practical lesson: advisory capability is built through intentional processes, repeated practice and clear client expectations, not simply a change in job title.

MANAGEMENT

Forensic Techniques Help Beat Fraud

BONUS: 11 services that create a “control culture.”

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

Trained forensic professionals investigate accounting and financial transactions that are, or will become, subject to legal proceedings. It is an early step in a potential war, and many times it is the first shot.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Attorneys and c-level executives are often not familiar with forensic techniques and see them as a means to quantify a loss. Financial forensics also provides a means to deter and detect fraud. Today, I share my views on the value of forensic techniques used to deter fraud and encourage CVAs to consider attending the CTI’s Forensic Accounting Academy™ or Fraud Risk Management courses offered through the MAFF programs.
READ MORE →

ACCOUNTING ARC

Scotty Scarano: Create Your Dream Career – And Make It Fun | Accounting Conversations

Entrepreneurship, community, and a candid look at firm ownership reveal possibilities many never dream of.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

??

Optimize Profits, Delight Clients, & Build a Top-Value Firm!

Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

Scotty Scarano knows how to get accountants talking about something besides deadlines. Give them a bracket, put their favorite software up against an industry personality, and let the campaigning begin.

The founder of Accounting High turns professional education and networking into something resembling a school community, complete with friendly rivalries. But beneath the jokes is a question with consequences for the profession: How many potential accountants lose interest before they discover what the work can become?

MORE Center for Accounting Transformation | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

On Accounting Conversations, host Chayton Farlee joins Scarano to explore the distance between the accounting industry students encounter in class and the careers they can build. Their discussion connects the appeal of entrepreneurship with the harder decisions behind a growing practice, including when an owner’s enthusiasm becomes a bottleneck.

PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

How to Spot and Stop Scope Creep

Here’s how to tell exactly what does and does NOT fall within the lines of scoped services.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

There’s a time to increase scope and a time to let it slide. Let’s explore these two options.

It’s professional responsibility to inform a client when a request is out of scope. In this instance, you have two options: either make it a separate engagement or include it in the existing service package. It’s important to have everyone on the same page about what is within scope and what falls outside of it.

MORE by Jody Padar
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

It would be best if you always built into your pricing agreements a 20 percent buffer to protect you against pricing mistakes. This doesn’t mean you should do work outside the scope for free, but if a client asks for a service not included, you could decide to let it go if the amount is immaterial.

MARKETING & SALES

Bissett Bullet: Don’t Fall at the First Hurdle

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “I told your person on the phone I was happy with what my accountant does. Good. Tell me how they get involved with influencing your future.”

By Martin Bissett

We are very easily thrown off the scent when a concern is raised against us. We automatically interpret this as rejection and as such do not use common sense to deal with what is a fairly straightforward issue. When somebody tells you that whoever they booked the meeting with was informed that you were perfectly happy, this is them demonstrating to you that they are scared about the possibility of changing. Put them at their ease with a very simple follow-on question and make sure that they know that you are not so easily put off.

Today’s To-Do:

If available, ask a colleague to practice resolving concerns with you in a safe, comfortable environment so that you do not freeze in the real situation.

See more Bissett Bullets here

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Anne Napolitano: The Future of Accounting’s in Value, Not Time | The Disruptors

“The balance sheet is where all the bodies lie.”

This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first and always available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

???

The Break-Through Blueprint for Revolutionizing the CPA Firm Business Model

Anne Napolitano used to give advisory-level guidance without charging for it. “I was doing those advisory-type services without really getting compensated for it because I just felt it was what you were supposed to offer to your clients,” she says.

But after learning about value pricing from various resources, including Ron Baker and Ed Kless, her thinking changed. “The better we got at something, the quicker we were, the less money we were making because we could do things faster,” she says.

MORE Disruptors with Liz Farr | CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

That realization helped her understand that clients weren’t buying time; rather, they were buying the decades of experience she and her team had as accountants and the value that comes from that experience. And today, she charges a premium for that expertise.

“We need to value ourselves correctly and appreciate the fact that we’re really doing some great work for our clients, and we should be compensated for that,” she explains.

Her firm, Anne Napolitano Consulting, landed on its niche specialty of restaurants, bars, breweries, distilleries, and wineries, partly because of Napolitano’s love of cooking.

SEARCH, SORT AND FILTER ALL THE DEALS – By firm acquired, private equity investor, CPA firm platform, and date. Plus exclusive insights and notes on the biggest deals, in the CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™ PRO here.

Exclusively for PRO Members. To join CPA Trendlines as a PRO Member, click here.

NEW, BIGGER TRACKER: See the PRO edition of the CPA PE Deal Tracker™ – Filter, search and sort more than 600 deals spanning 10 years for a total valuation of more than $60 billion

BY THE NUMBERS: The decade in deals, year by year valuations, acquiror rankings, top ten biggest buyouts, the most connected investors, here.

The CPA Trendlines CPA PE Deal Tracker™ – Filter, search and sort

SEARCH, SORT, FILTER – Look up by firm acquired, private equity investor, CPA firm platform, or date.

EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS and notes on the biggest deals.

Exclusively for PRO Members. To join CPA Trendlines as a PRO Member, click here.

Surging AI costs are making managing profit margins a new challenge at many of the same companies seeking to generate new revenue in the technology.

MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal:

MORE Private Equiity

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

MORE Special Report on the CBIZ-Grant Thornton Deal:

MORE by Hitendra Patil Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Six Surveys. Eleven Answers.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here

Sponsored by Radical Pricing: Optimize Profits, Delight Clients, and Build a Top-Value Firm

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Sponsored by Radical Pricing by the Radical CPA, Jody Padar | See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

MORE by Jody Padar Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “I told your person on the phone I was happy with what my accountant does. Good. Tell me how they get involved with influencing your future.”

Today’s To-Do:

If available, ask a colleague to practice resolving concerns with you in a safe, comfortable environment so that you do not freeze in the real situation.

This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first and always available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here

Sponsored by Radical Pricing: Optimize Profits, Delight Clients, and Build a Top-Value Firm

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

MORE by Hitendra Patil
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

MORE by Jody Padar
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.